Saka POV
Two Years Earlier
When I opened the door to the boarding-house room I would be living in for the next three and a half years or so, all it contained was a single bed, a study desk with a hard wooden chair, and a wardrobe. A wall-mounted fan was installed on one of the partitions between the student rooms. As for bathing, we would use the shared bathroom located in the corner of each floor of this two-story boarding house. It wasn't a luxurious place, but it wasn't too bad for the eldest son of a simple rural family.
I set both backpacks on the bed. These were the only two bags I'd brought to hold my clothes and other belongings. When I opened the window and the second door in the room, fresh air blew in from outside. That was why I'd chosen this boarding house over the other options. There was a small balcony that wasn't connected to the room's entrance. There was no table or chair out there, but there was a clothesline. On either side, separated only by waist-high walls, I could see the other students' balconies.
"Hey," my neighbor to the right of my room greeted me.
"Hey." I stepped closer and held out my hand. "Saka."
He moved the cigarette he was smoking into his mouth, then used his newly freed hand to shake mine. "Edo. What major?"
"Accounting. You?"
"Mechanical engineering. Freshman? Where are you from? I'm from Botang."
"Botang? That's pretty far. I'm from Winota. Ever heard of it?" He shook his head. That wasn't surprising. He was from outside the island, and Winota was only a relatively obscure district.
I left the balcony door and window open. From my conversation with Edo, I concluded that I was the only freshman on the second floor of this boarding house. Edo was only in his third semester and didn't know the students on the first floor very well. There were only eight rooms on each floor, with three bathrooms each. It wasn't crowded, but it couldn't exactly be called sparsely populated either. It wasn't very late in the morning yet, but I was too lazy to unpack. I lay down on the spring mattress, which had been covered with clean sheets and came with a pillow and bolster pillow. The hours-long bus ride that morning made me fall asleep quickly.
Today was the first day of classes after orientation, and I chose to sit in the front row for my first course. Both my parents had strongly emphasized that I needed to finish college as quickly as possible, for obvious financial reasons. My younger sister would also be starting college in two years.
Ten minutes before class started, the room was already nearly full. Apparently, the freshmen didn't much like the front row. The seat to my right had been empty until then. Only five minutes before class began, a student came rushing in and immediately sat in the chair closest to the door, beside me.
"Hey, Arjuna." He introduced himself, then smiled at me briefly before adjusting his backpack. That was the extent of our conversation that morning before the professor came in to give us an introduction to basic accounting.
The student named Arjuna took a laptop out of his backpack. I couldn't help looking around the classroom. Many students were doing the same thing, while the rest were still using books like me. But I was sure that at home or in their boarding-house rooms, they already had a laptop ready for assignments or research later on. I knew I would need a laptop too, or at least a PC, but it would be too much to ask my father for one during my first semester after seeing how much money he had spent sending me to this university. I'd think about it later.
"We're staying in this classroom, right?" Arjuna asked.
I checked the schedule in my notebook. "I think so." I looked at the other students; not many had left their seats.
"What was your name again?"
"Saka," I answered. I hadn't told him my name yet.
"Saka..." He nodded repeatedly, as if trying to store my name in his memory. "Are you from here?"
I shook my head. "I'm from Winota. What about you?"
"I'm from Palagan. Where's your boarding house?"
I mentioned the name of a street, and Arjuna told me where his boarding house was too. He said our places weren't very far apart, though I still didn't know the area well.
"Why did you choose accounting? From the look of you, you'd be better suited to becoming a scientist or a professor."
I couldn't tell whether it was a compliment or the opposite, but judging by his expression, he didn't seem to have any ulterior motive in asking. "I don't know... My father has always wanted me to become an accountant."
"And you just followed your father's wishes?" I nodded. "Don't you have any other dreams?" I shook my head. "Interesting." This time, he was the one nodding repeatedly.
"What about you? Why did you choose accounting?"
He smiled before answering my question. "I want to become a financial auditor. I'll catch all the rats in these companies," he declared confidently.
Then, as if we'd planned it beforehand, we laughed together. That was my first introduction to Arjuna. He was always commenting on the professors' teaching methods and mannerisms. We sat beside each other through the last course of the day. We also met other classmates between courses, but Arjuna seemed to hit it off with me the fastest. He only said goodbye at lunchtime, probably to eat somewhere else, because I didn't see him in the campus cafeteria.
It wasn't very late in the afternoon when I was already back in my boarding-house room. Not many of the other residents were in their rooms yet. I used the opportunity to do my laundry. I hadn't had time to wash my clothes during orientation. Luckily, this boarding house had a washing machine that everyone could use. The balcony became a place to hang the half-dry clothes. After I finished everything, I took an Android phone out of my bag. I hadn't checked it once all day. There were several messages from home, including one from my younger sister, Sita. Mom had probably told her to send it. I replied and let her know that my first day of college had gone fine.
I didn't have any assignments to work on yet, and there was nowhere I wanted to go except to buy dinner at a food stall later that night. My thoughts drifted back to my conversation with Arjuna. Why did I want to become an accountant? I didn't know exactly why I wanted to be one. But aside from becoming an accountant, I didn't have any definite goals either. All I knew was that my father had always described accounting as a profession that guaranteed success. I didn't know what had caused him to think that way. Maybe he'd once met a successful accountant who made him want his only son to become like that person. Or maybe Dad thought that by becoming an accountant, I could help with the bookkeeping at his wholesale store and manage it better. Though I was sure my parents' wholesale store was still doing just fine with the manual bookkeeping Mom handled. I pictured our store. It wasn't very big, but it was well stocked for a small town. That was where my father and mother had raised Sita and me. Unfortunately, people now preferred shopping at convenience stores, causing retail shops to lose customers and affecting our wholesale store as well.
When I graduated from high school, I had already refused to attend college in this city of Sibaru. Even though I had been the top student at my old school, I was just a country boy. Attending the public university there would have been enough. There would be no need to spend so much on boarding and food. But my father had other ideas. He didn't want his son to keep living in the countryside like he had. A son had to leave home, gain experience in the city, get the best education, become an accountant from a prestigious university, work for a major company, and eventually help support the family and bring honor to its name.
I pictured the faces of my classmates from earlier. Were any of them like me? Or were they more like Arjuna, who was already certain of his dream? All I knew was that I couldn't waste time. Starting tomorrow, I had to look for a part-time job.